Jack of All Trades
by pirateglitter
Summary: Captain Sparriff (aka Sea Sparrow) is young Jack's father,hero, and best friend. When the captain is accused of treason, 14 yr. old Jack Sparriff becomes Jack Sparrow, and must face the impossible all alone. Chapter 2
1. Young Sparrow

DISCLAIMER THINGY: I don't own Jack Sparrow, but I do think he's one of the most interesting characters ever created! This is my version of who I think he was at age 14... and the events that turned him into the pirate we all know and love...  
  
THIS STORY IS A prequel to my other fanfic, "Jack Sparrow and the Music Box". I am trying to keep the stories independent of each other, but they do share several of the same characters and their twisting plots are strongly intertwined. You don't need to read the one to understand the other.... But, it won't bother me at all if ye decide to read both! :)  
  
JACK OF ALL TRADES CHAPTER 1: YOUNG SPARROW  
  
Jack takes an exhausted breath and laughs. He collapses around a high branch of one of the trees among Bristol's woods and waits patiently for the British soldiers to catch up.  
  
This is Jack's most favorite game... And besides, he feels he is doing his country a great service by keeping her men in tip-top form.  
  
He climbs higher up into the tree until he can see the English coastline, glittering in the noonday sun like an ethereal jewel. A boyish spark of hope runs through him as he searches the horizon. His father's ship, The Black Pearl, is scheduled to return any day from its duty to the Royal Navy... And Jack can hardly wait for it to, once again, make safe berth.  
  
He hears footsteps on the crisp autumn ground below and holds perfectly still, so as not to be seen.  
  
"The boy came this way I tell ye!" An officer by the name of Reese announces loudly, making sure that his prey can hear.  
  
His ungainly companion, Officer Shepherd, reluctantly trails behind."But there's no where to hide in these woods... The thistle is too sharp and the trees are too thin."  
  
"He's here to be sure, my friend." Reese continues. "I guarantee it. He ends up here every time."  
  
Jack frowns at the comment. It is simply untrue. Last time, he hid in a completely different tree, in a completely different part of the forest.  
  
"And why are we after the boy again?" Shepherd asks, growing restless.  
  
Reese spins around and places his hands squarely on the other officer's shoulders. "For fun," he smiles. "Simply for fun. Every week Lady Hammish's prized milking cow mysteriously disappears from her pasture, and every week we are given the most urgent order to chase after the bloke who took 'er!"  
  
The new officer does not hesitate to let his irritation show. "If you want someone to chase after... I saw the most fetching little lass selling dried flowers at the market yesterday..."  
  
"The one near the fish vendor?"  
  
"Quite right!" Shepherd growls huskily. "So, you know of whom I speak?"  
  
Reese lowers his eyebrows in disapproval. "That I do... She's my sister!  
  
The officer cowers at his mistake, then brightens up with newfound hope. "Now seeing that you know her name, might I enquire of it?"  
  
A tiny snap of a twig interrupt the conversation, and both soldiers straighten to attention at the sound. Jack holds his breath, and begins his scientific experiment of meditating his way into invisibility.  
  
The men diligently search the green canopy with their eyes. They pass over the nearly obvious location of the boy several times before giving up and looking back at each other.  
  
It worked! Jack grins with delight, hardly able to contain his excitement.  
  
"How are you so certain that he is around here?" Shepherd huffs.  
  
"Because," Reese raises his eyebrows as he answers, "these woods are the childhood haunt of Jack Sparriff.... When he and I were lads, we use to hide out here and build ships and swords, out of bark and twine..."  
  
Shepherd runs Sparriff's name across his lips several times as he thinks, then his eyes grow wide. "You mean Sea Sparrow? We're chasin' Sea Sparrow's boy?"  
  
Reese nods enthusiastically. "And where do you imagine the son of the legendary Sea Sparrow would be hiding, if he chose to hide in sparse woods such as these?"  
  
Officer Shepherd pauses again to think, then slowly lifts his head to scan through limbs and leaves, once more.  
  
Convinced that his experiment is a success, Jack stops his deep concentration and opens his eyes.  
  
As the shadows from above shift ever so slightly, Shepherd finally spots a scrawny, messy haired figure wrapped like a koala bear, around a heavy branch. "There you are, you buggar!" Shepherd shouts. "Come down out of there before I pick you off with my musket!"  
  
Jack laughs hysterically and only climbs higher. "Sir, unless you toss up a musket for me as well, that would not be a very fair fight, now would it. If you really want me, come and get me!"  
  
The officer's ego pushes him to accept the challenge. He tosses his polished effects to the ground, unbuttons his red waistcoat with a huff and attacks the tree trunk like a mad squirrel.  
  
Reese chuckles in amusement as he watches his partner advance several feet up into the air, only to slide right back down again.  
  
Jack descends to the previous branch and waves at Shepherd to get his attention. "Dig the sides of your boots into the trunk. Lean back a little and you'll get better leverage."  
  
Shepherd does as he is instructed and is able to lift himself to the first crux of the tree. He gives a wide grin of accomplishment.  
  
Jack smiles back. "Don't get outside much, do ya mate." He then proceeds to pick up a beetle from the bark near his hand and lets it parachute down to the officer's face.  
  
Shepherd bleats in horror as the insect lands in between his eyes. He loses his footing as he swats wildly, and falls nearly fifteen feet to the earth with a backbreaking thud. "Damned blighter!" he moans in anguish. "Thanks to you, I shall be out of commission for a month!" The officer reaches for his musket and aims it at Jack's head.  
  
"No!" Reese panics. "The lad is just playin' with you. No harm was meant..."  
"Sea Sparrow's son or not," Shepherd growls. "I will not have my naval career ruined by a bloody street urchin!"  
  
Realizing the seriousness in the officer's tone, Jack climbs up as far as the branches have strength to hold his weight. He hears a loud pop from below and, a second later, feels the ground punch the air out of his lungs.  
  
Reese runs over to his young friend and gasps as he watches the leaves under Jack's body turn from a dry brown to a bright, sticky red. "Shepherd! You bloody idiot!" Reese shouts. "The boy was just havin' some fun!"  
  
"As am I..." Shepherd returns coldly. "I could have just as easily blown his brains out..."  
  
The ruddy glow in Jack's skin changes to a sallow grey. He grabs Reese by the shirt collar and tries to sit up, but the officer forces him to lie back down.  
  
"No sense of good sport with that bloke, I tell ye..." Jack quirks. A faint toll of a ship's bell rings from Bristol's harbor and Jack smiles weakly. "I know that bell.... It's The Pearl!"  
  
Then everything goes black.  
  
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%  
  
"Jack?..... Jack?..... Can ye hear me, son?" his mother calls softly. "Ye need to try to drink some of this before Doctor Mayne begins.... It will dull the pain a bit."  
  
Jack lifts his head and takes a slight sip from the tin cup being held to his mouth and grimaces with disgust. "What are ye tryin' to do to me, Mum?.... blast me bloody socks off?"  
  
"Watch yur tongue!" Mother scolds. "It's straight rum.... So, go on, drink her up..."  
  
"But you said..."  
  
"I know, I said I'd kill ye with me bare hands if I ever caught ye with this stuff... But ye seem to be doin' a fine job nearly getting killed on yur own."  
  
Jack watches in confusion as Doctor Mayne kneels at the side of the straw bed, with a glowing hot knife in hand. "What happened?"  
  
Doctor Mayne twists his face at the boy to hide his amusement at having to make yet another house call on Jack's behalf. "You've managed to get yourself shot.... again..." he answers. "Only this time the musket ball has lodged itself in your upper arm... right against your humerus bone."  
  
"Ahhh.... so that is why I find this whole situation funny?" Jack laughs at his own quick wit.  
  
"When I am digging that thing out of your flesh," the doctor reproves seriously, "it will not be funny at all, lad."  
  
Young Sparriff shuts his mouth and lies back down as the doctor ties a tight tourniquet above the wound. The doctor waits until the knife has cooled a bit more... then slices a straight, but deep incision into Jack's arm.  
  
Jack's vision becomes blurry as he fights back tears and tries to keep the pain from leaving his body as a shrill cry. He hears the front door of his home slowly creak open, then close again. Heavy footsteps tread to the fireplace and a load of firewood is dropped to the ground.  
  
"I told ye to wait until I got back, " a deep voice calls.  
  
The doctor shakes his head. "I've only just started, Mister Sparriff. It's gonna take me a while to get this pellet out..." The knife grates against the white of Jack's exposed bone and he whimpers uncontrollably.  
  
"Quiet, Boy..." Sea Sparrow comforts his son as he kneels down. He runs a hand over Jacks head and smiles as the sweat around Jack's face causes his short black hair to curl out in an indecisive muss.  
  
"Father!" Jack wheezes. "I heard the Pearl! I recognized her bell! I have been practicing climbing the trees in the woods.... just as you told me to. I bet I could climb to the top of the Pearl's mast nearly as quickly as you by now!"  
  
"Shhh... just concentrate on the matter at hand..."  
  
"And Father!" Jack manages through clenched teeth. "I read the journal you gave me from Australia... and I have figured out their skill for becoming invisible!"  
  
"Ahhh..." his father purrs, happy to be home. "Young Sparrow... My boy, how I've missed ye..." 


	2. The Warning

Jack of All Trades Chapter 2: The Warning  
  
Mister Sparriff props his feet upon the stones of the main hearth, closes his eyes, and leans back in the rocking chair. He happily listens to the voice of his daughter, Sanette, as she chatters in the kitchen, at her mother, about married life and her friends in a higher class of society. Large whiffs of smoke billow from Jack Senior's pipe and fill the home with a comforting smell that is only experienced when he is not at sea.  
  
"Father?" Sanette calls, "Father, aren't you listening to me?"  
  
Sparriff raises his head. "Of course I am, Luv... What did you say?"  
  
Sanette places her hands on her hips, then whirls over to her young father. She lovingly tugs on the black ponytail secured tightly at the base of his neck and brushes at the strands of grey hair that are prematurely beginning to increase in number. "I asked if you would call the rest of our guests to the table... The food is ready to eat..."  
  
The Captain of the Pearl smiles, clamps his pipe in between his teeth, then slowly stands up. He takes his daughter by the hand and pirouettes her in playful circles... as if she were a little girl again. "You have grown into a fine woman," he esteems. "I imagine you cause much jealousy amongst those stuffy high-society broods you band with..."  
  
Sanette bounces her raven black hair as she twirls, and laughs. "And being a fine woman, it would not be polite for me to allow our dinner to turn cold."  
  
Sparriff lets go of his daughter and tacks his face in a boyish pout. "What do ye say we just leave those men outside and have dinner solely as a family for once, eh?"  
  
Sanette returns the frown. "Father, Markus IS family... He is your son-in-law... And, Officer Reese and Doctor Mayne might as well be considered family... seeing how they watch over us while you are not here..."  
  
The Captain quirks his mustache, sighs in defeat, then tromps over to the front door. He steps out into the chilly October air and makes his way over to the water well, only to discover that the men are no longer there. Opening his mouth to call out for them, Sparriff hears muffled voices carrying on behind the small barn over his root cellar. Silently, he slips closer... until he can hear the conversation.  
  
"I've known Jack for a long time," Reese argues with the two other gentlemen. "He is loyal to the crown... He loves his country... and he would never do anything to cause his fellow Englishman unearned harm..."  
  
"But I have seen these pamphlets!" the doctor returns. "I am as true to Jack's friendship as you are, Mister Reese... But when specific men are named with particulars against the King, I must stand with Markus... We must do something before our names are added, and circulated among the public."  
  
Markus nods solemnly. "Doctor Mayne is correct... The names in those pamphlets have long been suspected to be part of the radical underground... Those men will no doubt, be hunted down and hung by the week's end."  
  
Reese continues to stand in the captain's defense. "We can't even be sure that these claims are being written by Jack's hand... Everyone is well aware of Sparriff's influence on the common folk of this community... Perhaps someone is using his name to legitimize their cause..."  
  
"Enough!" Markus snaps. "You know as I do, that Jack has a loose tongue. You hear just as I do, how he rambles on at meals about his opinions of government. Well, tonight... he must be silenced..."  
  
Sparriff decides he has heard as much as he wants to hear. He takes in a deep breath, then makes his presence known by stomping the rest of the way to the barn. "Where've ye been, mates?" Jack asks. He pretends to be cheery, but his voice cracks with anger. "Washed up and ready to eat? Sanette and Rachelle have cooked up a feast."  
  
Officer Reese smiles sadly at his friend. "You looked so content to be back in your home with your family, that we didn't want to intrude... So, we just decided to stay out here and jaw a bit, until you came out to fetch us..."  
  
"Well," the captain answers, staring back intently, "I hope I didn't interrupt anything too important..."  
  
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%  
  
"James, wake up your brother again," Misses Sparrow orders her son. "Tell Jack that we are all waiting."  
  
Thirteen year old James huffs a few words under his breath, then gets up from the dinner table and opens the door to the downstairs bedroom. He sneaks up to his older brother and flicks him on his injured arm. "Wake up, mud head... No one can eat until we've said grace... and we can't say grace until your butt is out on that bench..."  
  
Jack Junior slowly opens his eyes and blinks at James, then closes them again and rolls over.  
  
"Get up!" James pinches Jack's fresh wound until blood seeps through the bandage... and Jack yelps in pain.  
  
Young Sparrow takes a wild swing at his brother... and falls from his bed in the process. He stands to his feet, wobbles a bit from the after effects of the medicinal rum, then chases James to the protection of their mother. "Mum's little baby boy," Jack mouths tauntingly, then sits next to his father.  
  
Mister Sparriff laughs at Jack's messy bed head and dazed appearance, then clasps his hands together, bows reverently, closes his eyes, and waits for everyone else to follow rank.  
  
The two boys, still glaring at each other, lower their heads and sit still as the prayer is being said. Jack notices the mound of mashed potatoes on the plate in front of him, then grins. Silently, he lifts his spoon from the table and rounds out a generous scoop.  
  
James' eyes grow wide at the realization that Father's prayer is not going to end in time... and he is helpless to do anything about Jack's plan.  
  
Jack slowly moves the spoon into a launch position, then pulls back, aims carefully...and releases.  
  
Officer Reese struggles with all of his might, to stifle an outburst of laughter as he hears the potatoes splat against James' forehead.  
  
The prayer continues peacefully for several moments more. Then, once completed, all hell breaks loose...  
  
"MUM!!" James wails, as mashed potato slides down the bridge of his nose.  
  
"JACK!" Mother howls in response. She jumps up from the table, whirls around the men in her way and grabs her oldest son by the ear. "I have had all I can take!"  
  
Jack winces in pain as he is pulled from his seat... his head tilted to the side like a teapot.  
  
"Rachelle! Rachelle!" Mister Sparriff calms his wife. "Let the boy be. He's had a rough day..."  
  
"He's had a rough day?!" Misses Sparriff shouts back. "What kind of day is it going to be when our son is brought home in the mortician's wagon because he can't seem to stay clear of trouble?" Mother releases her hold on Jack, then stares over her guests who are busily eating their dinner and minding their own business. She sighs at her outburst, then clears her plate. "Reese... Doctor Mayne... Markus... It was good to see you all again... But I think I shall retire for the night if you do not mind..."  
  
The men politely stand up in unison and thank Rachelle for her hospitality as she heads for the kitchen. Sparriff removes himself from the table as well, and begins to go after his wife, when a small thump is heard at the front door.  
  
"I wonder who that could be?" Sanette thinks out loud. She daintily hops up and wisps her way over, to answer the sound. When she opens the door, Sanette lets out a horrified scream.  
  
Captain Sparriff spins around to see what is causing his daughters fright. He catches his breath in his throat when he discovers a dead barn sparrow nailed to the wood of the front door by an arrow, trimmed in black.  
  
Young Jack narrows his eyes in alarm as he notices a rare fright in his father's face. He glances around and notices that the same expression is shared by everyone else in the room... everyone else that is, except for his brother-in-law Markus... who is hiding a slight smile.  
  
*Author's note: Being a girl who needs many, many creative outlets to sustain her sanity... I have drawn a picture of Young Sparrow and posted it on potcfandom.com if anyone be interested... 


End file.
